Saturday 28 July 2012

El Beso

Jantango made this comment to my post on El Beso:

'2xtango.com posted the announcement on July 26 that El Beso will reopen in August. No specific date was mentioned. All the milongas are returning home.'

-- which is good news. Being somewhat sceptical I'd assumed that a relatively undeveloped property, only two floors in a city increasingly of high-rises, at the central intersection of two major thoroughfares, was probably the subject of real estate negotiations for humongous sums of US dollars. I'm happy to be wrong, but I'm curious about the return of all the milongas. Maybe larger, less crowded floors aren't so attractive, or maybe they are just more expensive. Maybe the expansion of dancing over the last decade or two has levelled off, and larger floors simply aren't needed or economical. Or maybe there's a concensus that this intimate dance is more at home in small venues where people are closer, both on and off the floor. Cachirulo successfully managed the move from Maipu 444 (small) to Villa Macolm (large), but maybe the event becomes more impersonal with a lot more people. I'm in no doubt which of the two venues I prefer, and it's certainly not the larger one.

2 comments:

Janis said...

The reopening is good news for those who prefer the intimate setting of El Beso over a large ballroom like La Nacional. The organizers struggled to maintain the milongas in other locations. They are no doubt relieved to be returning to the corner of Corrientes and Riobamba. The city inspectors closed El Beso on April 17 for safety violations. One organizer told me that 200 dancers in a place with 150 capacity was normal.

Janis said...

Photo tells the story. http://www.elbesotangobar.com.ar/documents/photoblog.php